<p>I understand the difference between the schools within the UC system (Davis, Irvine, Riverside, etc), but I have a couple of questions about the "other" public four-year colleges in California.</p>
<p>First of all, why is California State/Northridge and California State/San Bernardino but San Jose State, Fresno State, etc?</p>
<p>I understand that some of the California State schools -- Chico, San Jose, San Diego -- are almost as competitive in admissions as the schools in the UC system. Is that true?</p>
<p>Are most of the California State school commuter in orientation? Are they pretty interchangeable or do they stand out among themselves? (I hear that aging hippies gravitate to Humboldt)</p>
<p>Do most State univerisities have specialities? Or is it the usual teacher training and business administration programs? (I understand that Chico is agricultural in its orientation as is UC Davis or UC Riverside). </p>
<p>Is there a perceiving pecking order in terms of prestige among these schools?</p>
<p>the whole CSU Northridge/CSU San Bernadino vs. San Jose State etc. is nothing but convenience. some schools' names just ring better when it's "X" State (like CSU Fresno = Fresno State), or their college names are "X" State University. make no mistake, those schools are still in the CSU system.</p>
<p>most if not all CSU's still aren't nearly as competitive as UCs. some have outstanding individual programs in the nation, but as a whole they usually aren't. if you're going to include those schools as competitive CSUs, then CSU Long Beach at least as competitive, if not more competitive than some of those.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO and SDSU are harder to get into than several UCs, especially for certain majors. The others are mostly easier. Most CSUs are primarily commuter schools.</p>
<p>The CSUs in general are oriented towards trades whether it be teaching, nursing or accounting. Then again, the UCs are more trade oriented than many colleges too.</p>
<p>was SDSU the one that recieved the award for lowest admissions requirements by the "top10 worst colleges" or something, or was that somewhere else with san diego in the name?</p>
<p>Cal State schools have ZERO prestige. You're not gonna get any respect from anybody if you graduate from a Cal State school. The only POSSIBLE exception to this is Cal Poly SLO. </p>
<p>That's why Cal State schools are focused more on developing job skills as opposed to a broader, more liberal arts-oriented education. B/c the "name" of a Cal State school won't open any doors for you. Cal State schools make sure that you develop certain job skills/trades (e.g. IT, accounting, teaching, agriculture, architecture, engineering, sales, etc.) so that you can be marketable b/c the Cal State name on your degree ain't worth jack. </p>
<p>Whereas if you went to Stanford, USC, or UC Berkeley, you can major in something useless like literature or film studies or whatnot b/c the brand name on your degree alone will open doors. if you graduate from those schools, you don't need to attain or develop any sort of aptitude or job skills b/c you can get by on the name alone.</p>
<p>so if you plan on going to a Cal State school, make sure you major in something USEFUL so that you can get a job, b/c the name of your degree surely won't rescue you from unemployment. </p>
<p>Anyway, word on the street is that there's a movement going on to "demote" UC Riverside to Cal State Riverside. There's also the possibility of moving Cal Poly SLO into a UC school since SLO is prolly the only Cal State school with some decent brand name reputation. And everybody knows that UC Riverside totally blows and completely damages the prestige of the UC system. Riverside basically fails to live up to the (somewhat unfair) high standards of the UC system. So instead of being an embarassment to the UC schools, many ppl in California are pushing to demote Riverside to a Cal State level. At least that's the buzz going around in Cali...</p>
<p>The CSU offers many very different campuses. The top of the heap includes Cal Poly Slo, SDSU, Chico, Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach, San Jose, and San Francisco. </p>
<p>Cal Poly is the highest ranked, has the best students, and has the best "name" recognition. It rivals Davis and Santa Barbara in terms of selctivity and notoriety. Its strengths are in architecture, science, engineering, and agriculture. This campus also feels less "commuter" because almost all freshmen live in dorms and the majority of upper-classmen live next to campus in student housing or in the downtown area. I should note that I just graduated from Poly.</p>
<p>SDSU has been labeled a school for partiers in the past, but is quickly become rather selective. It has an excellent business school and is a little better overall than UCR, in my opinion.</p>
<p>The best schools for nursing are San Jose and San Francisco. The engineering giants are the two Cal Poly's and San Jose. San Diego, Cal Poly, and San Jose are typically seen as the best for business, and Cal Poly SLO and SDSU have the best sports. I hope this helped!</p>
<p>I thought Tekno was actually giving a pretty fair, if a little harsh, assessment. Students from outside California may not know the difference and could make a mistake if they though Cal State was synonymous with UC. CSUN is great if you're going into teaching or school counseling, for example. It's cheap, you'll get a good, focused education, and you'll be qualified to get a job. But you're much better off going to ANY UC if the name/prestige of the school you go to matters. There's no way to sugar coat that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cal State schools have ZERO prestige. You're not gonna get any respect from anybody if you graduate from a Cal State school. The only POSSIBLE exception to this is Cal Poly SLO.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>People get respect for being a college graduate, regardless of the institution. Only idiots are going to judge somebody based on prestige--probably the same idiots who graduate from Harvard.</p>
<p>I actually agree with confused_student. I respect anyone who goes to college b/c they want to better themselves.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there just seems to be this whole notion that one should go to college solely for prestige b/c supposedly, prestige means more respect, money, and power. I will say that anybody who judges ppl by prestige are probably gonna be the ones who will be locked up in federal prison for securities fraud, tax evasion, etc.</p>
<p>teknosoul, looks like you just did a complete 360 on what you stated initially...why don't you make up your fricking mind...</p>
<p>"Unfortunately, there just seems to be this whole notion that one should go to college solely for prestige b/c supposedly, prestige means more respect, money, and power. I will say that anybody who judges ppl by prestige are probably gonna be the ones who will be locked up in federal prison for securities fraud, tax evasion, etc."</p>
<p>Before that you stated:</p>
<p>"Cal State schools have ZERO prestige. You're not gonna get any respect from anybody if you graduate from a Cal State school."</p>
<p>1.) Cal States do not have ANY prestige whatsoever.</p>
<p>2.) It seems that the vast majority of college students are only interested in going to college for prestige.</p>
<p>3.) Ergo, if you want prestige and power, DON'T go to a Cal State.</p>
<p>4.) But you should NOT let prestige be the determining factor to decide where you want to go to school. </p>
<p>5.) If you want to get a good, solid education that will prepare you for the workforce, then Cal State is an excellent choice. Cal States will help you develop certain job skills so that you will become a productive member of the workforce. But if you are a prestige wh0re like the vast majority of high schoolers, then don't go to a Cal State.</p>
<p>So basically, when I said that ""Cal State schools have ZERO prestige. You're not gonna get any respect from anybody if you graduate from a Cal State school", I was saying that ppl will not respect you b/c of the name on your degree. The sad truth is that ppl will respect those who went to UC Berkeley of Stanford more SOLELY b/c of the name on the diploma (hence, the notion of prestige). I was not expressing my opinion about Cal States; I was relaying my observations of how people perceive the quality of a Cal State school.</p>
<p>Further proof of the lack of respect Cal States get (especially among the Asian population, since Asians, more than anybody else, care about prestige b/c they don't have the networking opportunities or inside connections of their Jewish and Caucasian counterparts). </p>
<p>"Mike White, principal of Lynbrook High School, in one of the districts The Wall Street Journal wrote about, said that he has a very tough time persuading Asian students to look at the California State University campuses, including nearby San Jose State University, which has many academic programs in areas his students want to study.</p>
<p>If they dont get into the University of California campus of choice or Stanford, he said, many prefer to enroll at a community college and transfer to a UC campus rather than attending a Cal State campus. White stressed that he didnt mean to be critical of community colleges, but that it struck him that his students were ignoring institutions that were a good match just because the institutions didnt have a perceived level of prestige.</p>
<p>There are many excellent CSU's. The most PRESTIGIOUS in terms of selectivity is CalPoly in San Luis Obispo. Average GPA of entering freshman there is in the 3.80 range.
Someone said that SDSU is insanely easy to get into? Maybe at one time but with all the UC's being grossly impacted, a lot of stellar students have pursued the CSU's. Last year SDSU had over 50,000 applicants and less than 8000 were admitted. </p>
<p>There are 2 excellent schools in the CSU system that unfailingly appear in the "Princeton Review Best 300 some odd schools".........
CalPoly SLO and Sonoma State, both for several years now. Both are considered impacted and receive far more applicants than they can admit.</p>
<p>Cal State Chico still labors under the reputation of a really over the=top party school and from what I have heard from students who attend, the rep is still deserved. Beautiful campus though...lol.</p>
then you're saying SDSU had an acceptance rate of 16%. which is considerably lower than any UC. by the way, that acceptance rate would only be several percentage points above Stanford's...yeah....and i think if SDSU had "over 50,000" applicants, i would guess that it would have been one of the most applied to schools in the nation. i'm sure SDSU is popular, but i seriously doubt that...i don't think you're getting many facts straight here haha.</p>
<p>Actually SDSU had 55,000 applicants, but they accepted 24,000...hoping 8,000 would actually attend the school. It's definitely one of the most applied to schools in the nation phobos.</p>
<p>alright i can accept that fact, but giving the number of matriculants tells me very little about the competitive nature of the school. the difference is so huge as to not even be worthy of argument, as it came up in this case.</p>